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It’s Not Top-Secret If You Can Google It

Why do secrecy agreements still apply to discussing classified material that has been made public?

By

Michael Richter

Dec. 4, 2014 7:09 p.m. ET

Former Navy SEAL Matthew Bissonnette recently filed a federal malpractice suit against an attorney for telling him that the manuscript of his book, “No Easy Day: The Firsthand Account of the Mission That Killed Osama Bin Laden,” didn’t need to undergo prepublication review by the Pentagon. Mr. Bissonnette claims that not letting Defense Department censors vet the book before its 2012 release has left him vulnerable to a criminal investigation and the likely confiscation of nearly all income earned from his best seller.